A personal computer generally has to have provision for the installation of at least three pieces of peripheral equipment therein, two floppy disk drives and a hard disk drive being likely to be installed therein. It is advantageous to be able to arrange such pieces of peripheral equipment with their front panels in close packed array, either stacked up vertically or side-by-side horizontally, and to reduce the space required around each of them. This permits designers to reduce the size of the computer, to make more room for its other components, or to make room for additional components. The cavity in the surface of a piece of computing equipment into which a piece of peripheral equipment is inserted and fastened or locked is called a "cage" in this disclosure.
Generally, connection of a piece of peripheral equipment such as a hard disk drive or floppy disk drive within a cage in a computer body can be classified as being of guide rail type, screw type, or spring guide type. Examples of these types of connection arrangement known in the prior art will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
FIG. 1 shows a guide rail type connection arrangement disclosed in Korean Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 89-11364 (published on Jul. 13, 1989) entitled "A Fastening Device For a Floppy Disk Drive And Hard Disk Drive". In this guide rail type connecting device, guide rails 2 are attached to the side of a piece 1 of peripheral equipment by screws S1 and the piece 1 of peripheral equipment is then pushed into a cage 3 so that the guide rails 2 engage with lead rails on the interior side walls of the cage 3. Then, the guide rails 2 on the piece 1 of peripheral equipment are fastened to a front portion of the cage 3 by means of screws S2. The problem with this guide rail type connecting device is that the spacing required for the respective screws S2 in adjoining guide rails prevents very close side-by-side arrangement of a plurality of the cages 3.
FIG. 2 depicts a screw type connection arrangement disclosed in Korean Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 85-5314 (published on Aug. 10, 1985) entitled "A Fastening Device For A Computer Hard Disk Drive". A piece 1 of peripheral equipment inserted within a cage 3 is secured therewithin using screws S1 inserted through the sidewalls of the cage 3. Screws S1 on both sides of the piece 1 of peripheral equipment have to be tightened during assembly and have to be untightened during disassembly. However, if other devices or frames are on either or both sides of the peripheral equipment, there are problems with accessing the screws S1.
FIG. 3 illustrates a spring guide type connection arrangement disclosed in Korean Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 93-2630 (published on May 17, 1993) entitled "A Fastening Structure For a Peripheral Equipment In A Computer" and Korean Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 93-15492 (published on Jul. 28, 1993) entitled "A Mounting Device For A Personal Computer Drive". Spring guides 4 which engage detents in lead rails within a cage are used for retaining the piece 1 of peripheral equipment within the cage after its insertion thereinto. These retaining springs 4 avoid the need for the screws S2 required by the FIG. 1 guide rail type connecting device in order to retain the piece 1 of peripheral equipment within the cage. However, a space large enough to push a hand or tool must be left along each side in order to be able to operate the spring guides 4, which prevents close side-by-side arrangement of a plurality of the cages. The assembly of the retaining springs 4 with the guide rails 2 is somewhat more complex than one would like and is usually implemented with a special jig. The retention capabilities of the springs depends on the width dimensions of the piece of peripheral equipment being held to fairly close tolerance.
Korean Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 93-15516 (published on Jul. 28, 1993) entitled "A Fastening Device For A Disk Drive" discloses a connecting device including a tripping sill and tripping groove in order to avoid the need for the screws S2 required by the FIG. 1 guide rail type connecting device in order to retain the piece 1 of peripheral equipment within the cage. However, this connecting device undesirably interferes with the stacking of pieces of peripheral equipment one above the other.
The inventor sought to economize the interior space of desk top computers by utilizing a different type of connection arrangement that would reduce the need for leaving space around the cage(s) for peripheral equipment.